Newsbeat

August 15, 2017

Students Complete First Year of GC’s Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) Program

The first year of students have completed the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) program at Garrett College. The duration of the CCMA program is a year, and consists of 13 courses (taught three evenings a week since last September), and equates to 426 hours of classroom and lab time, followed by 120 hours of externship, working with experienced Medical Assistants and Phlebotomists in the field.

After completion of the externships, students are eligible to earn three national certifications through the National Healthcareer Association by sitting for the Certified Phlebotomy Technician (CPT), Certified Medical Administrate Assistant (CMAA), and Certified Clinical Medical Assistant (CCMA) exams.

Certified Clinical Medical Assistants are versatile healthcare professionals who are engaged in a variety of tasks in a medical office or hospital. Certified medical assistants can be found in a number of healthcare settings including nursing homes, medical centers, laboratories and hospitals.

These professionals are involved in the clinical and administrative aspects of a hospital or practice. Clinical medical assistants help doctors and nurses by preparing examination rooms, taking and monitoring patient vital signs, interviewing patients for medical histories, preparing patients for X-rays and assisting in medical procedures such as the administration of electrocardiograms. Clinical medical assistants are allowed to perform more advanced duties such as drawing blood, administering injections and medications and properly disposing of biohazards, just to name a few.

Orientation dates are currently being set up for the fall program and registrations are currently being accepted. Class is slated to start September 18, 2017 and will run Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. at the Garrett College Career Technology Training Center in Accident, Md.